Zagazeta and Cresswell split BRITISH F4 victories AT KNOCKHILL AS Rees takes over points lead

Matias Zagazeta and McKenzy Cresswell split the victories in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost at Knockhill, as Matthew Rees capitalised on a difficult weekend for erstwhile leader James Hedley to move clear in the standings.

Ford’s rising stars made the annual trip north of the Scottish border to the 1.2-mile Fife circuit to mark the halfway stage in what has already been a vintage season of EcoBoost-powered racing, including seven different winners and thirteen podium finishers from the first twelve rounds.

That plot seemed certain to thicken after qualifying, with Phinsys by Argenti racer Zagazeta powering to a double pole position – his first in the series – to set himself up for a strong weekend, but conversely then-points leader Hedley had a nightmare session, and would line up at the very back for the first and third races.

Zagazeta made no mistake from pole position in the opener, a lightning getaway from the Peruvian teeing him up for an emphatic, lights-to-flag victory, though he had to soak up race-long pressure from Fortec’s Joel Granfors to secure the honours.

It was a somewhat lonely run to the final spot on the podium for JHR racer Rees, but with Hedley scoring just a solitary point in tenth, the gap between the pair at the summit shrank from 24 markers to just 10.

What should have provided some respite for Hedley on an otherwise-difficult weekend quickly evaporated, the BRDC Rising Star wheeled away from reverse grid pole on Sunday morning with a mechanical problem.

That left Cresswell to charge through in a fashion reminiscent of his maiden win at Oulton Park on the opening tour to annex the lead, first out-dragging Marcos Flack (Argenti) down to Duffus Dip, before sending a move around the outside of David Morales (Arden) at the Hairpin to secure top spot.

Cresswell then powered clear to register a 2.5-second margin at the flag, with the similarly improving Zak Taylor (Arden) second to notch up another trip to the rostrum. Kai Askey (Carlin) was third, but had the pace to contend with the leaders, had he not been stuck behind Flack earlier on.

Morales was eventually fifth, marking the US racer’s first points in Britain’s FIA Formula 4 series.

Again, the gap at the front swung back and forth between Zagazeta and Granfors in the finale, but the former would take a third victory of the campaign, moving him to within 23 points of new leader Rees, who rounded out the rostrum again.

Rees remains out front in the Rookie Cup stakes, 36 points clear of team-mate Cresswell, whilst in the Teams Cup it’s still advantage Fortec Motorsport by 23 markers over JHR.

The F4 British Championship resumes at Thruxton, Hampshire on 28-29 August.